


A Purrfectly Apawling Catastrophe

by pensversusswords



Category: Marvel
Genre: Animal Transformation, Cat Tony Stark, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles, This is Ultimate Crack-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5533835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensversusswords/pseuds/pensversusswords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Steve accidentally learns a secret about Tony, and that werekittens are an actual thing. Seriously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tony

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moonlit_Lampshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlit_Lampshade/gifts).



> A Christmas present for my dear Roz, who deserves all the cat!Tony in the universe. Merry Christmas darling, I hope you like it <3

The first time Steve witnessed Tony change into his kitten form, it was completely unintentional.

They’d just spent the night together; starting with a relaxing and cliché evening at their favourite date restaurant, followed by the two of them tumbling with feverish hands and wandering kisses into Tony’s bed, writhing and gasping as they lost themselves in each other. After that, Tony fell asleep with Steve’s hands still on him, holding him securely against his side, his heartbeat thudding a comforting staccato beat against Tony’s ear.

Tony had gotten a lid on his accidental changing a long time ago. Or, at least he thought he had.

The first time he changed, he’d been with Jarvis, when he was still young enough to curl up in his lap while his butler read to him while running his fingers through his hair. Even as an adult, Tony still remembers how he felt at that moment; he was leaning back against Jarvis’ chest, his eyes fluttering shut as he listened to the soothing, lilting sound of his familiar voice. He remembered the warm, gentle calm that bloomed in his chest, emanating through him like a soft glow, as he lost himself in the sensation.

The next thing Tony could recall was Jarvis pausing in mid sentence, pausing for a long moment, and then softly muttering “my _heavens_ ” in complete awe under his breath.

It wasn’t long before Tony changed back and the two of them had a chat that Jarvis had definitely never expected to have to have when he accepted the job as the Stark butler. As with all things, he took the news spectacularly well.

As Tony got older, the changes into his kitten form were sporadic and almost uncontrollable – especially as he went through the horrors of puberty. Luckily, he’d learned to sense when it was coming and almost always managed to find his way to a private space before it happened, but it had never been easy. It was honestly a miracle that he managed to keep it a secret for so long.

But now, as an adult, he had years of experience under his belt, and there was absolutely no reason that he should accidentally change in the middle of the night.

Despite this, when he woke up that morning it was with the familiar sound of his own purring filling his ears, and he was curled up in a tiny ball against the column of his boyfriend’s neck.

Unfortunately, his sleep addled, kitten-like brain took a little while to catch up with the magnitude of the situation.

At the same moment that he realized that he was in his kitten form in some distracted, absent part of his mind, he discovered the reason that he woke up was because Steve was stirring awake and making a surprised noise when he noticed the kitten that was tucked into the space where his shoulder met his neck.

“Hello,” Steve was saying, his voice confused and all rough from sleep. The sound buzzed pleasantly through Tony’s small body, adding a low, vibrating hum to the familiar sound of Steve’s voice. Tony thought absently that he would like to fall back asleep right here, with Steve’s voice quivering in his bones.

“Who might you be?” Steve continued, tilting his head to the side to get a better look at Tony, who just blinked up at him silently “And what have you done with my boyfriend?”

That’s about the time that Tony’s brain finally – _finally_ – came back online.

Steve was looking at him.

Tony was in his kitten form.

Steve didn’t know about the whole kitten thing.

At this realization, Tony found himself scrambling to his feet – his _paws_ – in shock, and scurried back a few steps with a startled meow.

Steve was sitting up now, looming above Tony in his shirtless glory, his blue eyes wide and concerned, his mouth slightly agape in surprise. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you little guy. Shh, it’s alright.” Steve’s voice slipped into a calming, soothing tone as he slowly lifted one hand towards Tony in a placating gesture, like he was trying to calm a frightened cat.

Which, technically, he was.

Frantically, Tony spun around and peeked over the edge of the bed. Too far to jump, he realized in dismay. Mentally, he berated himself for buying such a high bed. He should’ve taken the need to escape from it at some point in his kitten form into consideration.

“Woah, hold on,” Steve was saying, “don’t jump okay? It’s too high, you’ll hurt yourself.”

The tail end of Steve’s sentence faded into a low, incomprehensible roar, however, because suddenly Tony was completely frozen in shock and utterly focused on the fact that Steve was reaching over to cup Tony’s small body in his hands, capturing him in his gentle grasp.

Tony’s brain short circuited as he found himself being held firmly in Steve’s hands.

They were face to face now, Steve’s eyes intent on Tony’s little face.

Tony was sure he was trembling. Not out of fear, but because this tiny body was ill equipped to deal with this kind of stress. He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t –

Steve was holding him level with his face, and Tony saw the exact moment that Steve’s eyes went to his chest, because his eyes narrowed in confusion, in shock, oh god Tony couldn’t breathe –

“What is–“ Steve began, but abruptly cut himself off.

Because, in a rush of shock and something bordering on incoherent panic, Tony’s body decided, against his will, to turn human again.

This resulted in him tumbling naked into Steve’s lap, straddling his waist. Steve’s hands were lax as they fell onto the familiar spot on Tony's hips, his palms warm and soft against his skin.

Steve looked like he was about two seconds away from a heart attack. If it weren’t for the cold panic clutching at his stomach, Tony would have paused to admire how adorable Steve looked when he was surprised; his blue eyes wide with shock, his morning bed hair sticking up around his face, making it look very much like he’d just been electrocuted.

As it was, Tony had more important things to be concerned with.

Like, the fact that Steve _knew_.

Tony couldn’t move. He thought that maybe he would never move again.

He just accidentally changed in front of his very new boyfriend, who he was madly in love with.

This couldn’t be real.

But it was, because Steve was staring at him like he’d just grown an extra head, like he’d sprouted gills on his neck, like he’d just announced that he was renouncing the life of a scientist and pursuing his lifelong dream of learning magic.

It was a look that Tony was certain would be followed by Steve saying something that Tony would never want to hear from him. Ever.

“Well,” Steve said, sounding like he’d just been punched in the stomach. “That’s new.”

Finally, Tony’s body decided to listen to him, and he was scrambling out of Steve’s lap, his limbs flailing as he wiggled out of Steve’s grip. Steve made a pained, breathy noise when Tony’s knee connected with his side.

“Sorry, sorry, I gotta–“ Tony was mumbling under his breath, grabbing a pair of boxers – because naked, he was naked – and wiggling into them even as he kept moving towards the door, stumbling ungracefully. “Gotta go, sorry. Just. Pretend this didn’t happen. You’re dreaming, or something. Whatever it takes.”

The last thing he saw before he slammed the door shut was Steve’s shocked, disbelieving expression.


	2. Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In response to the question "why is adult Tony a kitten still?": because fanfic and because it's cute and I am not limited by the realms of logic :')
> 
> Also a) Tony didn't get to have much of a childhood and probably reverts to kittenhood as a subconscious way of indulging in a carefree state of mind he didn't get to have as a child and b) in terms of relative age to livespan, Tony's still a tiny bb in human years.

“Tony, can we please talk?”

With a start, Tony looked up from the mug of coffee he was about to drink from, his drowsy expression immediately going alert and edgy. Tony was staring at Steve with his eyes wide in an expression that was vaguely panicked, his fingers tense where they clutched at his cup of coffee. His eyes flicked around the room as if he was wondering if there was an easy, subtle escape route that he could take without Steve noticing.

Steve really did feel bad for surprising Tony like this, but it’d been three days since they’d spoken, and it was getting a little out of hand.

Not that he didn’t try to talk to Tony, because he certainly did. It just happened that Tony was exceptionally good at hiding. He was blatantly avoiding Steve, and it was painfully obvious. Steve was so used to Tony’s presence around him all the time; even Tony was engrossed in his work but still ended up curled up against Steve’s side or laying with his head in Steve’s lap while he worked away on his tablet. Steve would wake up every morning with Tony’s body warm and solid against his own. Steve was used to Tony brushing against him in the hallways, Tony’s fingers absently running across the curve of his waist as he walked by, Tony drinking coffee in his pajamas when Steve came in the kitchen for breakfast, smiling up at Steve when he dropped a kiss onto his cheek.

Steve was so attuned to Tony’s presence that when Tony was deliberately putting space between them, he felt his absence like a missing limb.

Granted, he had no idea what he was going to say to Tony when they finally did talk – because, surely they would eventually, and Steve would have to actually _say_  things.

Things about how his boyfriend turned into a kitten in front of him.

There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual on how to talk about those sorts of things.

Even so, he knew Tony, and the fact that he was avoiding Steve definitely did not mean anything good, and Steve couldn’t stand the thought of Tony thinking that he needed to avoid Steve. That Steve might have anything bad to say to him about the kitten thing.

Mostly, Steve was just confused and curious, on top of just  _missing_  Tony.

The only way he was able to track Tony down was by taking him by surprise. Which wasn’t easy, considering JARVIS was being infuriatingly cryptic about Tony’s location when he was home in the tower, and by the time Steve ever figured out where Tony was, he’d scurried away leaving no trace behind.

Now, having managed to track him down in the kitchen while he was still half asleep and rumpled in his pajamas, clearly in need of the cup of coffee he was clutching like a lifeline, Steve realized he still didn’t really know what to say.

“I…” he began before aborting, his forehead creasing into a frown.

“Look,” Tony cut in, letting out a resigned sigh as he set his mug down on the counter next to him. Seeming to not know what to do with his hands now that they were no longer occupied, he crossed his arms over his chest, assuming a steely, determined expression. Steve felt his heart sink; he knew that look. He thought Steve was going to say something bad to him.

“If you’re going to end this, I’d rather you just get it over with,” he said, his voice hard and sharp. A pained, grim smile that didn’t reach his eyes strained at the corners of his mouth. “I’d understand if this is something you can’t get over.”

Steve’s frown deepened. “That’s not what this is, Tony.”

Tony barked out a disbelieving laugh. Steve hated the sound of it.

“It’s not,” Steve insisted. “I don’t even know what this… ‘something’ is, but what I _do_ know is that I don’t want to leave you for it, Tony.”

Tony’s stare was blazing, his lips drawn into a tight line. “I turned into a kitten in your lap, Steve,” Tony grit out. “You’re grossed out and you don’t want to deal with it…”

“Hey,” Steve said, a little louder than he intended, he realized, when Tony flinched a little at the sound of his voice. “Hey,” he said again, quieter this time. “Don’t do that, Tony. Don’t decide for me what I want.”

“But you–“

“Don’t like having choices made for me,” Steve interrupted, his voice firm. He stepped closer to Tony, crossing the room until he was standing in front of him. Tentatively, he brought his hands up to rest on Tony’s arms, holding him gently in his grasp. “Let’s talk about this, Tony. Please.”

Tony sighed and fixed his gaze over Steve’s shoulder, chewing at his bottom lip. Steve could feel the tension in his body, the rigidness that prevented him from relaxing into Steve’s touch like he normally did. Steve hated it; he wanted to smooth the hard lines from his body with gentle touches, to run his finger over the curve of his jaw and press kisses into his skin until Tony was pliant and content in his arms. He hated the frown lines etched in Tony’s brow, the way his hands were balled into tight fists where he had them tucked against his ribs.

He hated it, but he knew that it would only make it worse if he pushed Tony right now. He had to wait, to be patient and let Tony come around in his own time.

“You want to talk about how I sometimes shape shift into a kitten form, huh?” Tony said, his tone equal parts hesitant and carefully free of emotion. “Would’ve thought that would be a deal breaker.”

Steve shrugged. “Have you seen the life I lead, Tony?” he asked with a faint smile. “A couple weeks ago we signed a peace treaty with aliens and Clint almost got eaten by a monster made out of slime. I don’t know if it’s possible to scare me at this point.”

There was a long moment of silence before Tony spoke again, his words coming out on a soft sigh.

“Well,” he said, finally looking at Steve dead on, finally really focusing on him and not avoiding his gaze. “Okay. Let’s talk.”

~ weeks later ~

“Tony,” Steve mumbled around a yawn, his voice thick with sleep as he shifted on the couch, wincing a bit as he moved his arm, which was twisted at an awkward angle and was prickling with pins and needles.

The soft ball of warmth that was curled up in a tiny ball on his chest made a displeased sound at the movement and the sound of Steve’s voice.

Fighting back a affectionate, sleepy smile, Steve reached up to run his fingers across the top of the Tony’s head, feeling the soft vibration of his purring against his fingertips.

“We can’t nap all day,” Steve admonished fondly.

In response, Tony made a low, disgruntled “mrrp” noise and shifted away from Steve’s voice, stubbornly burying his face into Steve’s shirt.

Laughing softly, Steve cupped Tony’s tiny body in the palms of his hands, holding him carefully as he moved into a sitting position, making sure that Tony wasn’t dislodged and thrown onto the floor. “Come on, time to get up, grumpy.”

In response, Tony made a pitiful crying noise, his eyes blinking open sleepily as Steve held him up to his face.

“Stop grouching at me,” Steve told him. “I know you’re tired but I can’t lay here all day just because my chest is your favourite place to sleep.”

That earned him another pitiful meow, followed immediately by a squeaky, wide mouthed yawn.

Steve smiled, leaned forward and place Tony gently on the floor, who took a moment to get his paws in working order underneath him. Patiently, Steve waited for him while he struggled to regain his balance and stay upright.

After they'd thoroughly talked about the fact that Steve's boyfriend had, inexplicably, been able to turn into a kitten since his childhood, they settled into a pattern quite easily. Tony would change once in a while – he said it was like needing to stretch, if he didn't do it every so often, he felt tense and confined – and gradually, he was allowing Steve to be around while he was a kitten. Slowly but surely, Tony seemed to be coming to terms with the fact that Steve wasn't going anywhere because of it, and to Steve's relief, Tony was spending more and more time in his kitten form around Steve, finding it relaxing to melt into a tiny ball of warmth and fur once in a while. Every time Tony did it, Steve was astonished by the fact that most of the time he just slept. He figured it was probably a combination of his kitten body needing the rest, and the fact that his human body didn’t get nearly enough.

Also, it was unbearably cute to look down and see his little face peaceful in sleep, his tiny body humming with contented purring. Steve would never get tired of it, he was sure of it. 

However, Steve was very much human, and couldn’t sleep for a fraction as long as kitten Tony. Also, he’d been hungry for the past hour.

Tony let out yet another disgruntled meow at Steve as he stood up, stretching his arms over his head and starting to make his way over towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve muttered under his breath, shaking his head. He paused, turning to look back as Tony toddled along behind him at a significantly slower pace. “You know, I’m more than happy to carry you, Tony.”

As usual, this statement was met with high pitched meow, one that Tony managed to make as argumentative as possible.

Unsurprised, Steve shrugged. Tony had a general dislike for being carted around in Steve’s arms, for whatever reason, and always declined. Sometimes, if he really was tired, he’d relent and allow Steve to let him cling to his shoulder. More often than not, however, Tony would decline with painfully adorable kitten noises.

“Suit yourself,” Steve said, and continued on to the kitchen.

Tony wandered in when Steve was in the middle of preparing a quick meal, plodding forward until he plopped down at Steve’s feet, looking up at him with big, blue eyes. Knowing what Tony wanted, he reached down to scoop him up and placed him on the counter.

Promptly, Tony began licking his paw and swiping it over his face, perched primly on the counter as he washed his face. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Steve had to tramp down an absurdly delighted smile at the sight.

Unable to help himself, after shoving some chicken in the oven and setting it to cook, Steve bent over Tony and interrupted the grooming process by pressing an obnoxious, smacking kiss onto the top of Tony’s head.

“You are adorable,” he announced, then repeated the action, despite the disgruntled squeak Tony made. “Absolutely adorable.”

Steve then began to gently scratch the spot behind Tony’s hears where Steve knew he liked it best, burying his fingers in the soft fur and moving his fingers in the familiar motions. Despite himself, Tony was always powerless to being scratched there, and within moments, he was emitting a quiet hum of contentment, his eyes drifting closed.

It wasn’t long before Tony was flaked out on the counter, curled up in a happy little ball off warmth and affection, while Steve petted him until long after his fingers were tired, thinking the whole time that – as strange as it might seem to an outsider – he wouldn’t trade it in for anything in the world.


End file.
